LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Utah State women's basketball achieved something that had not been done since the 1981-82 season when the Aggies won their fourth-straight game, 69-52, against New Mexico State in Las Cruces on Thursday. With the win head coach, Raegan Pebley became the all-time winningest Aggie coach earning her 56th win. Pebley is in her sixth season at Utah State.

With the win, Utah State improves to 14-12 and 8-5 in the Western Athletic Conference, while New Mexico State drops to 9-19 and 5-9 in league play. The 14 USU wins is the most since 2004-05 team went 14-14 in the final season in the Big West. The eight WAC wins is the most conference wins since bringing the program back. The most ever league wins by a Utah State squad is 11 when the 1974-75 team went 11-2 in the Internountain Athletic Conference.

For the second-straight game senior guard Danyelle Snelgro was dominating. The reigning WAC Player of the Week scored 26 points for her third 20-point performance in her last four games. Fellow senior guard Ana Pares added 14 points, while junior forward Lydia Whitehead scored nine.

USU moved to 11-1 when it out-rebounds its opponent as the Aggies won the battle on the boards 41-32. Both junior Nicole Johnson and Whitehead brought down eight rebounds, while sophomore guard Alice Coddington had seven.

This is the second-straight game that the Aggies have had over 40 rebounds after having 49 in the double overtime win against Idaho on Feb. 22.

The first half was filled of runs by both teams. New Mexico State took an early 5-2 lead off of a jumper by Erica Sanchez and a three-pointer by Danisha Corbett. After NMSU took a 7-4 lead, Utah State fought back. Behind a 10-0 run, the Aggies took a 14-7 lead thanks in part to three-pointers from seniors Ana Pares and Danyelle Snelgro. NMSU scored three-straight points to cut the lead down to 14-10.

Another USU run extended the Aggie lead to 20-10 after a Nicole Johnson jumper. Once again, NMSU charged back after jumpers by Tabytha Wampler and Danisha Corbett to cut the lead to 21-17. Layups by Snelgro and Pope helped USU end the first half with a 10-point lead, 28-18.

The Aggies were led by senior Danyelle Snelgro who scored nine points in the first stanza, while fellow senior Shawnta Pope continued her hot play of late, scoring five points. Junior Lydia Whitehead scored four. Senior Ana Pares added six first-half rebounds.

In the second half, New Mexico State scored six of the first seven points to cut the lead to 29-24 with 18:23 left in the game. NMSU continued its fast start cutting the lead down to 31-30 with 14:47 remaining. Coming out of the media timeout, a free throw by Johnson and a free throw by Whitehead pushed the USU lead to 34-30. NMSU countered with a three pointer from Corbett to cut the lead to 34-33 with 13:32 remaining.

The Maroon-clad Aggies eventually took the lead by yet another three from Corbett who would end the game with a team-high 20 points. NMSU would take a game-high five point lead at 42-39 before the blue-clad Aggies came charging back.

Another run, this time for eight points gave USU the lead back 46-44 with 7:25 left, and the Aggies would not trail again. An old fashioned three-point play from Shawnta Pope would extend USU's lead to 51-47 with 5:26 remaining. From that point, Utah State would continue to build on that lead getting as bit a lead as 17 points as New Mexico State went cold.

After a Corbett three points with 3:16 remaining, NMSU would not score the remainder of the game. Snelgro scored Utah State's final eight points, six of which were from the charity stripe to seal the win. Snelgro ended the game a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line.

For the game, USU shot 35.6 percent from the field (21-for-59), while shooting a sold 87.5 percent from the free throw line (21-of-24). This was the second highest free throw percentage this season behind the perfect 4-for-4 performance against Fresno State on Feb. 1. USU shot 30.0 percent from three (6-for-20).

New Mexico State shot 37.0 percent from the field (20-54) and 62.5 percent from the charity stripe (5-of-8). The maroon-clad Aggies shot 53.8 percent from three (7-of-13).

USU remains on the road to take on second-place Louisiana Tech. The Lady Techsters are 9-4 in conference play and defeated the Aggies 90-82 in overtime in Logan on Jan. 10. Utah State is in search of its first win against Louisiana Tech as the Lady Techsters hold a 7-0 series advantage. Utah State is currently tied for third at 8-5 with Boise State, Idaho and Nevada.

All Utah State games can be heard on KLGN (1390 AM) in Logan with Evan Nyman calling the play-by-play and Ashley Rutledge providing color commentary for home games. They can also be heard on the web by going to the Utah State Athletics home page at www.UtahStateAggies.com.

Live stats will be available for all home Utah State women's basketball games through the women's basketball page on www.utahstateaggies.com, by clicking on GameTracker in the current events box. All home games can be viewed by clicking on "Watch Live", while they can be heard by clicking on "Listen Live." Both can be accessed on www.utahstateaggies.com on the front page or the women's basketball page.

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